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Reviews by blt2646:

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4/5 rDev +1.5%look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

From BeerAdvocate Magazine #85 (Feb 2014):

Big, Toasty, Juicy, Hoppy

A big, brawny, hopped-up Brown Ale? Yeah, we’re game. Toasty malt character in both the nose and palate. Warming esters show its actual size ... very warming. The hoppiness slaps our palates around a bit, ample bitterness with a clean pungent oily hop resin, and suggestions of orange pith and tobacco. Mild raisin and orange pulp tone within. Long toasty and warming finish. Not for the faint of palate—give it a whirl.

A: The beer is very hazy dark reddish brown in color—it's too hazy to see through and determine if any carbonation is visible. It poured with a finger high dense light tan colored head that took a long time to die down and left a thin layer of bubbles on the surface, a collar around the edge, and lots of lacing down the sides of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of nutty malts are present in the nose along with strong notes of roast.
T: The taste is rather bitter and has moderately strong flavors of roasted malts—so much that you would think this was a Black IPA if you were blindfolded—with subtle hints of nutty malts towards the finish. The bitterness and roast linger through the finish.
M: It feels medium-bodied and a little crisp on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: The balance of this beer seemed to be somewhat off and has too much bitterness and not enough malty flavors. I wish that it had more nutty flavors so it would have tasted like an Imperial Brown Ale, if there was such a style.

Taste starts with lots of sweet dark malts and toasty brown malts, not too sweet but enough, with a mild chocolate and mocha, milk chocolate like, and into caramel, caramelized slight syrupy sugars, mild nutty notes, etc. A bit of warming booze comes through too, and turns tingly as it goes. in the middle the hops tromp out, with a big spicy hop flavor, little earthy and hint of pine, and quite bitter. A bit creamy as some oats I think come through, bringing a nice fluffy feel. Finish is dry and very bitter, even astringent bitter, more spicy hops almost like chewing on a hop pellet, hint of caramel and toasty brown malts, but very little malt left.

Overall pretty good, one of the better beers that has come from Smuttynose in recent years, nice brown malts, nice sweet characters, nice balance between malts and booze, and lots of nice hops that do get a little overbearing through.

Hoppy is an understatement. Usually when that word is added to a style not normally known for it, it's mild. This has a big, bold, in your face west coast style hop presence. High on the bitterness, wonderful mouthfeel is sticky, prickly and full. Smell isn't amazing, a little subdued.

Without the (sweet) label, I would have pegged this for a Stone Bastard/variant. Not a bad thing in the least. Will definitely be drinking this one again!

In a world where creative marketing is getting pretty scarce, sometimes the obvious names are right in front of you. This beer is simply "Durty"- ...but in the most beautiful of ways.

The brown ale starts out... well, brown. Its haze gives the beer a cocoa appearance, equipped with suspended cocoa appearances. Its frothy tannish head caps the beer with the confidence of high-hopped IPA and out lasts the session with ease. Speckled lace left behind on the glass continues to give the ale a formidable look.

Common to most Brown Ale, its aromas are chocked full of toasty, nutty, chocolaty and coffee driven scents. Perhaps these are of the more robust and drier tones, and that sense is propelled by the hop character that trails. Dried citrus peels, particularly of white grapefruit gives the ale a bright tone while unexpected peppercorn spice tingles the nose as the first drink looms.

And its Brown Ale tendencies also kick off the beers taste, but this time in more vivid display: charred toast, roasted walnuts, bittersweet chocolate, kona coffee are all on the darker and heavily tosted side but without becoming roasted. Its backbone of over-cooked caramel supports the other malt tastes but never becomes the focus. As the ale shows very little of its hoppy side during the early palate and the bulk of the middle before its citrus acidity rises near the finish for a decidedly bitter finish with a pang of grass, fresh-cracked peppercorn and burnt pine needles. This, along with its drier malt finish, gives the beer its unmistakable "American" taste.

Medium bodied, the beer's drier tone keeps the beer somewhat lightened despite its near-imperial-type strength. Its slightly elevated carbonation draws the toasty malts off the palate with ease and ushers in a spicier, drier and slightly resinous finish. Its warmth is beautifully woven into the dry toast and peppery flavors to finish.

Not messing around, this Brown Ale is down and durty- showing influences of traditional northern British browns but with a distinct American twist. I just needed the hop influence to trend earlier, giving me more bright citrus aromas and a more hop-balanced middle palate. But the ale finishes confident.

Pours an almost opaque super dark brown with a foamy khaki head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Foamy swaths of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of roasted malt, earth, char, and spicy herbal hop aromas. Taste is much the same with burnt toast, caramel, cocoa powder, char, earth, and spicy herbal hop flavors on the finish. There is a medium amount of toast and hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a good level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a good beer that has a nice mix of traditional brown ale qualities along with fairly intense hop aspects.

Best by 6/13/14.Pours into a nonic a deep chesnut brown with some ruby red highlights a great looking creamy full one finger head that settles into a creamy mass.Aromas are on the lighter side with some roasted nuts,cocoa powder,and herbal hops showing thru.A great creamy feel,like a brown should be in my mind,very rich feeling.Flavors have some booze to them along with some sweetish cookie dough and molasses,the hops partially cut thru the sweetness providing earthiness and leafy/piney notes.This is a cool brown ale,the hops are big but so is the sweetness,it even gets a bit sticky after awhile.